Flying High: Chocobos Defeat Soldiers, Win Shinra Cup!
by dustofwarfare
Summary: The day after the Chocobos defeat the Soldiers in the Gaia Hockey League Shinra Cup Championships, the following article appears in the Midgar Daily News about the game - and the rookie goalie, Cloud Strife, who saved the day. Written for an AU!Sports prompt, vaguely Sephiroth X Cloud, totally intended to be humorous :)


**Flying High: Chocobos Beat Soldiers, Win Shinra Cup for First Time in Franchise History!**

Things got exciting last night during the culmination of the Gaia Hockey League Shinra Cup Finals, in a historic game seven between the Chocobos and the Soldiers that is sure to go down as one of the most exciting in GHL history.

The Chocobos, thanks in part to the stellar performance of goalie Zack Fair, fought a long, hard battle for the right to play the Soldiers in this year's championship. After defeating the Rockets, the Cannons, and then the Turks, the Chocobos were expected to finally collapse beneath the might of the heavily-favored Soldiers. But after dropping the first two games, they hung on and made it a series; and it all came down to last night's game seven at the Midgar Coliseum. Who would go home with the prize?

With two minutes left in the game and a 3-2 lead, it seemed as if the Chocobos were about to pull off the impossible and upset the Soldiers (who have won the Shinra Cup every year since its inaugural season except for two, both times being beaten by their archrivals the Turks). But the Soldiers persevered, and their star sniper Sephiroth fired a shot past Fair that not only counted as a goal, but injured the Chocobo netminder badly enough that he had to be taken out of the game.

Chocobo fans were infuriated at the lack of a penalty called on the play, citing Sephiroth for goalie interference. Following the game, reporters were unable to locate any of the referees for comment.

Fair's back-up, rookie Cloud Strife, was about to have the game of his life. He stopped a barrage of shots in the remaining minutes of the game, and held on through three grueling overtime periods to keep the score deadlocked at 3-3. Finally, just two minutes into the fourth OT, the game looked like it might be over when Soldiers forward Sephiroth stole the puck from the Chocobos Tifa Lockhart, and took off for a breakaway down the ice.

"I looked up, and I could see this blur of white and black and silver coming at me," said Strife, after the game. "It was pretty intense. I don't really remember a lot of what happened. I just tried to remember what Zack always told me about being in goal, about finding your center and trusting your instincts. He's the reason we got as far as we did, I wasn't going to let him down."

And he didn't. Sephiroth took a beautiful shot, going high glove side on Strife — the same shot he took a few months ago, in an earlier game between the two teams (fans should remember the brawl that broke out afterwards in the Nibelheim arena, which resulted in more fines and penalty minutes than any other game in GHL history) when Strife was in goal for the Chocobos. For a moment it seemed as if the shot went in, just as it did in Nibelheim — but further review showed Strife stopping the puck before it crossed the line, denying one of the greatest players of the game his shining moment of victory. Shocked into silence, the home crowd and Soldiers players alike could only watch as speedy Chocobos forward Yuffie Kisaragi flew down to the other end of the ice with the puck, going five-hole on opposing netminder Genesis Rhapsodos and scoring to end the game.

Rhapsodos threw his stick on the ice and attempted to hit Kisaragi with a fireball before skating off in anger. Rhapsodos did not show up for the traditional hand-shake between teams at the end of the game, a move that was criticized by fans of both teams as unsportsmanlike. It's hardly the first time the fiery netminder has lost his temper; at a game in Junon earlier this year, several media representatives said Rhapsodos threw a similar fit during practice, nearly injuring his own teammate, Sephiroth, with both his goalie stick and several bursts of flame. The use of materia is strictly prohibited by GHL regulations. Officials are looking into the incident.

Rhapsodos was unavailable for comment, but has issued the following statement:_ "__Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return_."

Assembled media assume this means he'll be in net next season for the Soldiers.

Chocobos goalie Zack Fair is in stable condition at Midgar General, recovering from a head injury he sustained after trying to hug Strife following the game. Fair, who had several cracked ribs from the shot he took from Sephiroth, lost his footing and hit his head on the ice. He is expected to make a full recovery. "I've got a pretty hard head," he told reporters from his hospital room, laughing. Fans may remember Fair himself played goalie for the Soldiers, before being traded to the Chocobos in the off-season.

Fair says he has not spoken to his former teammate, Sephiroth, about the shot that broke several of his ribs. "Did I think there should have been a call? Of course I do. But it's the playoffs. I'm sure Seph didn't mean to break my ribs. And hey, look, everything turned out all right, didn't it?" Fair did report that Soldiers defenseman and captain Angeal Hewley stopped by to give his congratulations, as the two have remained friends despite the off-season trade that sent Fair to the Chocobos.

But the grass on the other side of the fence isn't as tasty, and sources say there could be some changes ahead for the Soldiers.

"We're disappointed, obviously," says Heidegger, Soldiers' General Manager. "We had an amazing season and it's a shame we couldn't quite notch that one last victory. We'll have to make some changes in our lineup for next season, of course. We definitely learn from our mistakes, and we will want to address these areas of weaknesses with our coaches and team physician, Hojo. Clearly, we're going to need a little more conditioning."

Coach Lazard Deusericus says he is proud of his team, and hopes they are able to repeat their phenomenal success next season. When asked if Deusericus would be returning as the head coach for the Soldiers, Heidegger responded with "no comment."

Following the Chocobos unexpected win, there are rumors that President and General Manager of the Turks, Rufus Shinra, has already been in contact with the Chocobos young star about signing a contract with his team. When asked, Shinra replied, "We're examining all avenues for next season, and of course want to recruit talented and loyal individuals for the Turks. If Cloud Strife were interested in playing for our team, it is definitely something we would explore."

For now, Strife is content to return to his hometown of Nibelheim and spend the summer with friends and family, celebrating this incredible achievement as a team. He says he is not making any plans about next year at the moment, though the Chocobos coaching staff and management have expressed a desire to see him stay.

"He really stepped up when we needed him to," says Coach Highwind. "That kid, man, he's no f—'in [weak individual], I mean, it takes some g—d—-d [guts] to go out there and do what he did." When asked if he believed Sephiroth's shot on Fair to be an attempt to remove the goalie from the game, Coach Highwind responded, "You bet your a— that's what I think. What the f—k else was it, huh? And the league needs to make that guy cut his [womanly-appearing] hair! You see Kisaragi or Lockhart or, whasser' name, that [young lady] on the Turks — Elena? They ain't got hair down to their [lower regions]. Give me a f—-'in break, already."

General Manager of the Chocobos, Reeve Tuesti, says it was a well-fought game and they are thrilled at the victory. He also stresses that management does not necessarily share the same viewpoint as coaches and staff.

As one more note of interest; in the traditional handshake line following the game, cameras caught star Soldiers' forward Sephiroth leaning down to say something to the young rookie, Cloud Strife. When asked what it was, one of Strife's teammates said, "It sounded like he said_, Oh, I'll give it to you later, you certainly deserve it._ I figured he was talking about the puck, you know, how you always give that to the winning goalie?"

Sephiroth was later seen going to the Chocobo locker room in search of Strife. Hopefully to give Strife the puck he so richly deserves.

Tickets for both the Chocobos and Soldiers regular season games go on sale tomorrow.


End file.
